About me


Welcome to Knowledge is Porridge, a blog which explores ideas and developments in social policy and the welfare state.  

My name is Daniel Sage and I recently completed a PhD at Stirling University's social science department, where I had an ESRC studentship.  My PhD was a study of how welfare-to-work programmes interact with the health, wellbeing and social capital of the unemployed.  My prime argument was that compared to 'open unemployment', participating on a welfare-to-work programmes might bring positive health and social benefits.  My PhD was a mixed methods study, mostly utilising quantitative data but with a small qualitative component.  

In addition to welfare-to-work, I generally have three other main research interests:

  • Public opinion and the welfare state: what do the public think about welfare and why do they think it?
  • The politics of social policy: what do politicians say about welfare and why do they say it?
  • Work, social security and labour markets: this is more of a periphery interest at the moment, but I am interested in the role of work in society, what it means to work, the relationship between work and social security and the effect of work on wellbeing.

Before moving to Stirling, I studied at both the LSE (2008-09) and UCL (2005-08).  My departmental webpage for Stirling can be found here.  I am also a book reviewer for the LSE Politic and Policy blog, and my reviews can be found here.

I also tweet (too much): @djsage86.


Daniel Sage